Mrs. Patalano distributed two handouts at the beginning of the year which described the classroom policies. The first handout is titled "Mrs. Patalano's Class Rules," the second handout is "Flinn Scientific's Student safety contract." After that she would explain to the students' what was on each handout. For the safety contract she would also have the students make lab safety posters that reflected the schools acronym for P.R.I.D.E. The students would use each of the letters to rephrase a portion of the laboratory rules.
Mrs. Patalano reinforced her rules by using what she calls the "5 step rule." This is a punishment system that gradually escalates in severity:
Warning, for unacceptable action or behavior.
Isolation, move students closer to me or away from friend(s).
Lunch detention, if the action or behavior has not been resolved.
Parent contact, if behavior continues, then I must contact guardian
Office referral, last resort.
Reflections:
Mrs. Patalano's method of distributing the classroom polices to each of the students, then informing them of the policies is a standard practice among teachers. At the current time I feel as though I will continue with this long held tradition. However, her method of having the student's make a poster on the laboratory policy seemed to be very effective at reinforcing the safety information. She bragged, that in comparison to previous years the average grade on the safety test has gone up by ten points since starting the poster project. I would like to incorporate this into my own classroom when the time comes.
Her method of reinforcing the rules seems to be effective in theory. However, I can not make an adequate analysis of it due to it was my first day at my placement.
Class Topic: Physical Science
Grade: 8th
Observed by: John Aellig
Observations:
Mrs. Patalano distributed two handouts at the beginning of the year which described the classroom policies. The first handout is titled "Mrs. Patalano's Class Rules," the second handout is "Flinn Scientific's Student safety contract." After that she would explain to the students' what was on each handout. For the safety contract she would also have the students make lab safety posters that reflected the schools acronym for P.R.I.D.E. The students would use each of the letters to rephrase a portion of the laboratory rules.Mrs. Patalano reinforced her rules by using what she calls the "5 step rule." This is a punishment system that gradually escalates in severity:
Reflections:
Mrs. Patalano's method of distributing the classroom polices to each of the students, then informing them of the policies is a standard practice among teachers. At the current time I feel as though I will continue with this long held tradition. However, her method of having the student's make a poster on the laboratory policy seemed to be very effective at reinforcing the safety information. She bragged, that in comparison to previous years the average grade on the safety test has gone up by ten points since starting the poster project. I would like to incorporate this into my own classroom when the time comes.Her method of reinforcing the rules seems to be effective in theory. However, I can not make an adequate analysis of it due to it was my first day at my placement.
Class Topic: Physical Science
Grade: 8th
Observed by: John Aellig